[Pelican]

I wonder why we are beginning to see a handful of two-way players IRL, and does this mean that we’ll see more would-be Ohtani's in the future?

I suspect it has always been true that many good athletes both pitch and play the field, at least to start. Way back when I was playing, Little League, high school ball, we might have one or two full-time pitchers, at most. Then there would be the SS who was our best hitter and could also pitch. Or the CF who could throw an inning. As these guys moved on, they tended to settle in as position players. At some point, they gave up pitching. And this is why a large % of MLB position players have pitched in the past.

Less common, in my experience, is the two-way guy who becomes a pitcher. That’s the harder road, for most guys. And now no longer important that they can still hit, with the DH everywhere [grrr]. Unless of course, they have the two-way alternative.

I’m unclear how a young player persuades a coach to let him do both, after high school. It’s not uncommon to have good college position players who occasionally pitch an inning. But once that first pro contract is signed, I would think a decision has to be made. It would take a very understanding system to allow even a gifted athlete to persist in being a two-way player. Progress in one area might be at the expense of development in other areas.

For a long time most of us regarded Babe Ruth as a kind of unicorn. And even the Babe mostly stopped pitching early in his career. [He still occasionally started games with the Yankees, typically late in the season, after clinching….] Now Ohtani has proved that it can be done. Two unicorns?

The 17-year-old 1B who still wants to pitch has an answer for the coach who says he cannot. The 21-year-old pitcher who wants to hit has one possible path. Maybe this is another unforeseen path in the evolution of baseball.